Adjustable hamper

ABSTRACT

An hamper having an adjustable frame and an elastic net being stretched over the frame to define a compartment with the elastic net forming an opening. The adjustable frame includes twelve interconnected arm assemblies having telescoping arm sections capable of being selectively adjusted in length. Eight corner members mount the twelve arm assemblies to from an adjustable rigid frame.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates in general to article containers and more particularly, to hamper capable of being adjustable in length, height, and width.

2. Summary of the Prior Art

Hampers are well known containers for receiving and storing clothing, sporting articles, and other items. Such hampers in the past have assumed numerous shapes and sizes of fixed dimensions. An example of a prior design for a hamper is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,113 issued Nov. 7, 1995 to Ho et al. The hamper of the foregoing Ho et al. patent has fixed dimensions and shape, although it may be collapsed for storage when empty. The problem associated with such hampers having a fixed configuration is the shape and size of the container cannot be adjusted to permit the hamper to be positioned in any available space within a building, house, vehicle, and the like. Accordingly, it is desirable in the industry to provide an adjustable hamper capable of being modified to fit in a wide range of shapes and sizes of storage areas.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an objective of this invention to provide a hamper for articles capable of being independently adjusted along its length, width, and height to assume desired external sizes and shapes to fit into any particular shaped storage spaces to receive and store articles. The hamper of the invention has an adjustable frame assembly formed by twelve tubular legs defining the length, width, and height of the hamper. Each of the twelve legs is independently adjustable to vary the length, height and width of the frame as needed to be accommodated by a particular storage area. An elastic net is stretched over the frame assembly to form the walls of the hamper and to provide an open article receiving opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the frame assembly of the adjustable hamper of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the frame of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the frame of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a is a side elevational view of the adjustable frame assembly of the hamper of FIG. 1 in an adjusted configuration;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective elevational view of the hamper of FIG. 1 in another adjusted configuration;

FIG. 6 is a front perspective elevational view of the frame configuration of FIG. 1 in still another adjusted configuration;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view, taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 1, showing the telescoping sections of the legs of the frame assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is front perspective elevational of a complete hamper of the invention using the frame of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of the net of the hamper being partially positioned on the frame of FIG. 1 during the assembly process.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1-9, there is illustrated the adjustable hamper of the invention, generally designated by reference numeral 2 in FIGS. 8 and 9. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the adjustable frame 4 is shown by which the size and shape of hamper 2 may be selectively modified. The frame assembly 4 made of plastic or metal includes upper and lower front leg assemblies 6 a, 6 b, opposed pairs of upper and lower side leg assemblies 8 a, 8 b, and upper and lower rear leg assemblies 10 a, 10 b. In addition the frame 4 is provided with four corner vertical leg assemblies 12.

As seen in FIG. 1, the upper and lower front leg assemblies 6 a and 6 b include a pair of telescopic hollow tubes 14 a, 14 b by which the length of the leg assemblies 6 a,b may be manually adjusted by the relative positioning of the inner tube 14 b within the end portion of outer tube 14 a. Each of the opposed pairs of upper and lower side leg assemblies 8 a,b; upper and lower rear leg assemblies 10 a, 10 b; and vertical leg assemblies 12 respectively include telescoping tubes 16 a,b; 18 a,b; and 20 a,b. The length of each of the leg assemblies 8 a,b; 10 a,b and 12 is adjustable in the same manner as describe with reference to front leg assemblies 6 a,b. From the foregoing, it should be apparent that each of the twelve leg assemblies of frame assembly 4 is independently adjustable in length to vary the dimensions and shape of the frame assembly 4.

As seen in FIG. 1, outer tubes 14 a, 16 a, 18 a, and 20 a of frame assembly 4 each include a plurality of aligned holes 22 aligned along a longitudinal axis. The selected number of holes determines the degree of adjustment of the length of each of the leg assemblies. As seen in FIG. 7, a push button 30 is resiliently mounted by a mounting spring 32 or other resilient member suitable mounted by a conventional technique on each of the twelve inner tubes 14 b, 16 b, 18 b, and 20 b of the leg assemblies. The button 30 may be manually depressed when positioned in a selected hole 22 to allow relative movement between the outer tubes 14 a, 16 a, 18 a, and 20 a and inner tubes 14 b, 16 b, 18 b, and 20 b by which the length of the leg assemblies may manually be independently adjusted by the relatively positioning of a respective the inner tube within the outer tube. Each of the opposed pairs of upper and lower side leg assemblies 8 a, 8 b, upper and lower rear leg assemblies, 10 a, 10 b, and vertical corner vertical leg assemblies 12 respectively include telescoping tubes 16 a, 16 b; 18 a, 18 a, and 20 a, 20 b. The length of each of the leg assemblies 8 a, 8 b, 10 a, 10 b and 12 is independently adjustable in the same manner as described with reference to front leg assemblies 8 a, 8 b.

The leg assemblies of the frame assembly 4 are interconnected in a rigid configuration by eight identical corner members 40. Corner members 40 each include three open ended integral tubular sections 42 a, b and c that are disposed at 90° to each other and removably receive the adjacent end of an adjustable leg assembly 6 a, b; 8 a, b, 10 a, b and 12.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9 there is illustrated the hamper 2 showing the removable net 50 for attachment to the adjustable frame 4. In unattached configuration (not shown), the net 50 is formed from a conventional elastic material 52 having an opening 54. The net 50 is designed to stretch tightly over the frame 4 and creates an internal article storage compartment 56. The ridge 58 surrounding opening 54 is provided with stronger elastic material to grab the upper leg assemblies as shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. 9, the net 50 is shown being attached to frame 4 during assembly after adjustment. It is desirable that the elasticity of the net 50 be sufficiently strong as not to sag when attached to frame assembly 4. From the foregoing, it should be apparent that the hamper 2 of the invention can easily be adjusted for a particular configuration and then assembled. The hamper 2 can also be quickly be disassembled for storage or adjustment when desired by removing the net 50 and separating the arm assemblies from the corner members 40

Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, there are illustrated examples of adjusted sizes and shapes of the adjustable frame assembly 4.of FIG. 1. Although it should be apparent that the length of each arm assembly 6, 8, 10, and 12 is independently adjustable to various lengths dependent on the number of holes 22, in FIGS. 4 and 5, the shape of frame assembly is shown in one modified form from the configuration of FIGS. 1 and 2. The shape of frame 4 is further shown in a different modified assembly configuration in FIG. 6.

In use of the adjustable hamper 2, the arm assemblies are respectively inserted into the corner members after an adjusted length of each of the arm assemblies 6 a, b, 8 a, b, 10 a, b, and 12 is selected. As seen in FIG. 9, the net 50 is pulled up over the adjusted frame assembly 4 into the position shown in FIG. 8 to create article storage compartment 56. 

1. An adjustable hamper comprising frame means for creating a hamper comprising frame means for creating a hamper of selected dimensions, said frame means including plurality interconnected arm assemblies, an elastic net being mounted over said frame means to form an internal article receiving compartment, each of said plurality of arm assemblies being independently adjustable in length to selectively vary the configuration of said frame means, and said elastic net being stretched over said frame means in mounted relationship, said elastic net having an opening in said mounted relationship for receiving and removing articles to and from said article receiving compartment.
 2. The adjustable hamper according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of arm assemblies includes twelve tubular arm assemblies extending along a respective axis disposed at 90° to an adjacent arm assembly.
 3. The adjustable hamper according to claim 2 wherein said twelve arm assemblies each include telescopic outer and inner arm sections.
 4. The adjustable hamper according to claim 3 where each of said outer arm sections includes a plurality of holes disposed along said axis of said twelve arm assemblies.
 5. The adjustable hamper according to claim 4 wherein each of said inner arm sections includes means to engage a selected one said holes to create a rigid connection at a predetermined length of each of said arm assemblies.
 6. The adjustable hamper according to claim 3 further including corner members respectively arranged to receive the ends of adjacent ones of said plurality of arm assemblies.
 7. The adjustable hamper according to claim 6 wherein each of said corner members including three open tubular sections arranged along axes disposed perpendicular to each other, each of said tubular portions receiving a respective end of said arm assemblies. 